NEW DELHI: Publicly traded Television Eighteen's proposed international channel is to be called South Asia World (SAW). It would be formally launched sometime in December, around the time when a Hindi business news channel too would debut.
According to broadcasting industry sources, the name SAW, which is undergoing test beaming at the moment, was coined, as the target audience would mostly comprise people of South Asian origin.
The proposed international channel will be uplinked from Delhi, while the uplinking base of the on-air business channel, CNBC TV18, would now be shifted to Mumbai.
The international channel's programming and packaging, according to the sources, would be different as it would contain lot of entertainment-based news and some lifestyle shows too.
The channel would also have a fairly sizeable amount of news originating from the UK and the US, which would be done out of the New York studio, at present being readied. The name of the Hindi business news channel, however, hasn't been decided yet as the chosen advertising agency, Lowe, is to get back to the company with a branding plan for the channel.
It has also not been decided what would be the modality for the involvement of CNBC Asia, the current partner of Television Eighteen Ltd.
"Television Eighteen is awaiting announcements of amendments to the uplinking norms for news channels that the government had said is being looked into," an industry source says.
Earlier, the government had said that the information and broadcasting ministry is contemplating some changes in the uplink norms for news channel, which were likely to be completed by 31 October.
With two proposed channels from the Television Eighteen stable slated for a December launch, it's action time for the company that has been registering steady growth. The company's stock closed the day on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 154.30, gaining 1.65 per cent.
The TV-18 group clocked revenues of Rs 169.42 million in the first quarter of FY 2005 ended 30 June 2004. The operating profit stood at Rs 86.37 million, while net profit recorded Rs 62.09 million (excluding forex gains/losses and deferred tax adjustment).
